Odda Municipality
Odda is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1913 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Ullensvang Municipality in the traditional district of Hardanger in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the town of Odda, which was also the main commercial and economic centre of the entire Hardanger region. Other villages in the municipality included Botnen, Eitrheim, Håra, Røldal, Seljestad, Skare, and Tyssedal.
Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 42nd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Odda Municipality was the 157th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 4.4% over the previous 10-year period.
It was located in southeastern Hordaland county, surrounding the southern end of the Sørfjorden. In 1927, Erling Johnson, working at Odda Smelteverk, invented a process to produce three-component, NPK fertilizers. This process is now known as the Odda process.
General information
The municipality of Odda was established on 1 July 1913 when the large Ullensvang Municipality was divided as follows:- the southern district became the new Odda Municipality
- the northern district became the new Kinsarvik Municipality
- the central district continued as a much smaller Ullensvang Municipality
On 1 January 2020, Jondal Municipality, Odda Municipality, and Ullensvang Municipality were merged. The new municipality is called Ullensvang Municipality and its administrative centre is the town of Odda. Historically, the old Odda Municipality was part of the old Hordaland county. On 1 January 2020, the newly-enlarged Ullensvang Municipality became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county.
Name
The municipality is named after the old Odda farm since the first Odda Church was built there. The name is identical with the word which means "headland".Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 8 October 1982 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official blazon is "Azure, an arrowhead argent". This means the arms have a blue field and the charge is an arrowhead that is pointing upwards. The arrowhead has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms are somewhat canting arms since the name of the municipality means headland or point. However, the arrowhead was also chosen because it symbolises power and movement. This is seen as reflecting the strength of will of the community and also the production of hydroelectric power and the important industries based on it. The colors are interpreted as representing the white of the Folgefonna glacier and the snowcapped mountains surrounding Odda and the blue of the fjord cutting deep into the landscape to reach the municipality. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.Churches
The Church of Norway had four parishes within Odda Municipality. It is part of the Hardanger og Voss prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.| Parish | Church name | Location of the church | Year built |
| Odda | Odda Church | Odda | 1870 |
| Røldal | Røldal Stave Church | Røldal | c. 1250 |
| Skare | Skare Church | Skare | 1926 |
| Tyssedal | Tyssedal Church | Tyssedal | 1965 |
History
The Røldal Stave Church was built in the years 1200-1250 in the present-day village of Røldal. This was one of the oldest structures in the municipality.During the 19th century, Odda became a significant tourist destination. Visits ranged from English pioneers around 1830 to the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, who visited Odda every year between 1891 and 1914. This led to the construction of several hotels in the municipality.
Odda Municipality was centred on the modern town of Odda which grew up around smelters built at the head of the Sørfjorden branch of the Hardangerfjord in the mid-twentieth century, drawing migrants from different parts of Norway.
The carbide production and the subsequent production of cyanamide was started in 1908 after the water power plant was operational and provided the necessary electricity for the arc furnaces. The plant was the largest in the world and remained operational till 2003 shortly after the plant was sold to Philipp Brothers Chemicals Inc. The Norwegian government tried to get the site recognized together with other industrial plants as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2010 an international report stated: ''What makes Odda smelteverk so important and central to the application of Norway’s hydro power sites and pioneer chemical industry as a World Heritage Site is the fact that here in an internationally unique way the physical remains of an early chemical production process are still present.''
Dialect
Odda grew up around this smelter in the early-twentieth century, drawing migrants from different parts of Norway. As a result, there developed a new dialect, a mixture of that spoken in the home regions of the migrants - a phenomenon termed by linguists "a Koiné language". The town of Odda and neighboring village of Tyssedal - which arose in the same time and socio-economic circumstances as those of Odda - provided valuable insights to linguists studying this phenomenon. The researcher Paul Kerswill conducted an intensive study of the Norwegian spoken in the two communities, relating them to very different geographical origins: The workers in Odda came predominantly from western Norway. In Tyssedal only about one third came from western Norway; one third came from eastern Norway; and the rest from other parts of the country. The dialects that evolved in these two communities were radically different from each other, though spoken at a short geographical distance from each other.Population
Government
While it existed, Odda Municipality was responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Hardanger District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.Municipal council
The municipal council of Odda Municipality was made up of 27 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.Mayors
The mayor of Odda Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:- 1913–1919: Johannes Apold
- 1920–1922: Guttorm Narum
- 1923–1925: Olav O. Aga
- 1926–1931: Karl Bøthun
- 1932–1941: Lars Nilsen Hjelle
- 1945–1945: Jakob Pettersen
- 1946–1951: Johan Slåttelid
- 1952–1971: Sverre Indrebø
- 1972–1979: Einar Tveit
- 1980–1985: Leiv Stensland
- 1986–1995: Knut Erdal
- 1995–2007: Toralv Mikkelsen
- 2007–2011: Gard Folkvord
- 2011–2015: John Opdal
- 2015–2019: Roald Aga Haug
Geography
Ullensvang Municipality was located to the north, Vinje Municipality was located to the east, Suldal Municipality and Sauda Municipality were located to the south, Etne Municipality was located to the southwest, and Kvinnherad Municipality was located to the west.